UAE. New opportunities for growth emerging from within the international shipping industry are explored by Captain Mohamed Al Shamisi, Abu Dhabi Ports CEO in an interview he gave recently to Oxford Business Group’s online broadcasting channel, Global Platform.

Chinese investment in the region, the cruise component and ongoing consolidation across the sector are among the topics examined in the interviews, which can be viewed in full here. Both representatives also map out Abu Dhabi Ports’ plans for further facilitating business processes and installing new infrastructure at its sites.

Al Shamisi told Global Platform that a major agreement signed with COSCO in 2016 for one of the biggest container freight stations in the region will support the emirate’s efforts to build on its international connections and help reduce freight costs.

“Because COSCO chose Khalifa Port as a home port and as a hub in the region, we are already on the map of China’s One Belt, One Road. This enabled us to sign a strategic deal with China – Jiangsu province in particular,” he said. “Jiangsu Province Corporation will bring an investment of $1.1bn, and they will sell and market this big plot to Chinese companies.”

Al Shamisi said the strategic location of key facilities, such as Fujairah Port, which is situated outside the Arabian Gulf, and specialised facilities, including the deep-sea facility at Khalifa Port, had also helped the emirate to foster strong regional and global links.

“Having a deep-sea port linked to the entire world, this by itself [is] a unique proposition because this enables us to distribute locally [via] the connectivity with Saudi Arabia and our neighbouring counties, and… other countries,” he noted.

While robust infrastructure has supported the expansion of Abu Dhabi’s ports, plans are also under way to further develop facilities at Fujairah, in preparation for what Al Shamisi described as “the new generation of ships”. The project pipeline includes deeper quay walls and giant gantry cranes to accommodate and serve larger vessels, he told Global Platform.

Abu Dhabi Ports’ decision to sharpen its focus on enhancing business-friendly processes, such as tracking systems that will speed up turnaround times, was also discussed in the interviews.

He added that the emirate’s digital platform, Maqta Gateway, had a key part to play in taking Abu Dhabi Ports to “the next level of digitalisation”. According to Al Shamisi, plans include digitalising the entire logistics supply chain, enabling clients to track their containers and commodities, and carry out their transactions remotely.

Turning to cruise tourism, both of the company’s representatives highlighted the positive performance that the segment had delivered in recent years, despite the fact that the Gulf has historically been unable to offer the six or seven stop-offs that are preferred by providers.

Al Shamisi told viewers that plans to add a third cruise destination at Fujairah Port were also taking shape.

Marc-André de Blois, OBG’s Director of PR and Video Content, said the interview with Al Shamisi showed that the emirate’s efforts to put Abu Dhabi Ports at the centre of its plans to diversify the emirate’s economy were well on track.

“While our video documents the developments under way at the emirate’s major ports, it also highlights the activity taking place at community facilities, such as those in the Al-Dahfra region, indicating that the drive to ensure new growth is broad based is gaining ground,” he said. “I’m delighted that viewers have been given the opportunity to not only learn more about Abu Dhabi Ports’ growth story, which includes five consecutive years of double-digit expansion, but also the part the company is playing in shaping the emirate’s future.”

About Global PlatformGlobal Platform is Oxford Business Group’s on-demand digital broadcasting channel. One of several research tools in OBG’s portfolio, the online platform has carved a niche as a leading business intelligence provider in its own right, with data verified independently by Deloitte putting its current circulation at 150,000.

Global Platform provides cutting edge video interviews with top-level decision-makers giving key analysis and the latest updates from across all sectors of the global business community.

OBG’s digital content is available both on Global Platform and via major international business news outlets. OBG also has distribution agreements with Bloomberg and Eikon’s terminals, giving it access to the Bloomberg Professional Services’ 325,000 subscribers and to over 150,000 subscribers of Thomson Reuter’s Eikon terminal.

About Oxford Business GroupOxford Business Group (OBG) is a global research and consultancy company with a presence in over 30 countries, from the Middle East, Asia and Africa to the Americas. A distinctive and respected provider of on-the-ground intelligence on many of the world’s fastest growing markets, OBG has offices in London, Berlin, Dubai and Istanbul, and a network of local bureaus across the countries in which we operate.